It was perfectly appropriate to dread the news that an athlete was hosting SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE–the show’s history abounds with deadly sports hosts like Michael Phelps and Tom Brady.  And in case that wasn’t enough pressure for tonight’s host Eli Manning, one of the rare exceptions to the rule was his own brother […]

Here are the weekend sports ratings for Saturday and Sunday November 26-27, 2016.  Eligible programs include sporting events on broadcast and cable networks (minimum audience size 150K P2+).  Programs are grouped by sport and ranked within each sport by P2+ audience size. For comparison, here is the same chart for the same weekend last year, November 28-29, […]

World Cup 2014 built more momentum over the weekend on ESPN, with the 5:30 pm matches on Saturday and Sunday the highest-rated contests so far on ESPN this year.  Further, even the lowest-rated ESPN match so far in 2014 is above the 2010 average for World Cup 2010. However, yesterday’s USA-Ghana match will certainly takeover […]

  Here’s some news to wash the stink of that WHITNEY renewal out of your mouths:  ABC has renewed its splendid bubble comedy HAPPY ENDINGS for a 3rd season.  The show, which hasn’t always been well-treated by ABC (airing after Modern Family reruns and in the 10PM hour at various times) received a full 22-episode […]

  Live programming like last night’s WORLD SERIES Game 7 are understated in the fast nationals below because of live viewing on the west coast before 8-11PM PT. The numbers below for FOX should rise about +15% in the official nationals later today. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  ROOKIE BLUE narrowly avoided a new series low by finding an extra 0.1 in final numbers. THURSDAY CABLE:  Sports ruled the day and night.  As detailed in today’s WORLD CUP SKEDBALL report, the US vs. Germany match had a big 3.0 rating despite the 11AM Eastern start time of the telecast (and […]

A fond farewell to Wisteria Lane. ABC:  The bang-up season finale of ONCE UPON A TIME scored a 3.2, its best number in 2 months, sending the series to summer hiatus on a high.  DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES shuffled off its mortal coil with the same 3.2, not exactly an event number (just slightly higher than last […]

  A quiet night everywhere. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary live+same day key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 ratings), audience skews (women 18-49, men 18-49 and adults 50+ shares) and total viewership (thousands of people over the age of 2). Ratings analysis and comparisons follow […]